Are all application questions of equal significance to underwriters?
From decades as an underwriter and later underwriting vice president of an insurance company writing business in most jurisdictions of the United States, it seems to me that not all questions on an insurance application are of equal significance. Sure, the prospective insurance carrier prepares the application and must feel that the questions have some underwriting significance. However, whether their company should, or will, accept coverage is determined by their underwriters, who invariably put different weight of decision on various items. This gets into the legal question of “materiality.” For example, whether or not a prospective insured had a small electrical fire six years ago does not carry the same weight in the decision-making process as whether the prospective insured is a convicted arsonist and asking for an amount of insurance twice the property’s value!
